Previously, Eric had estimated it took nearly two hours to reach the giant tree on foot. This time, however, fleeing for their lives, she and John summoned every ounce of speed and endurance, astonishingly glimpsing the monolithic silhouette of the tree in just over an hour.
"Find a way to scale the treetop—I suspect the clues to the Light Circle lie there," Eric declared, then led the descent down the drainpipe. Upon reaching the second floor, she leapt decisively, colliding squarely with two NPC sentinels below.
"Seize her! The monster must not contaminate the sacred tree!"
Like writhing tendrils, the NPCs' hands groped toward Eric, while a gleaming machete descended with lethal precision. Resolute, Eric seized one NPC, shoving him before her as a shield.
With a sickening squelch, a spray of warm blood doused her face.
Gazing upon a neck hanging by mere skin, Eric blinked rapidly as blood trickled from her lashes. She scarcely had time to process before wrenching a loose steel pipe from the fallen body's grasp and forcefully flinging the corpse aside.
Clearing her path with the impromptu weapon, Eric surged forward. Behind her resounded John's roaring battle cries mingled with the agonized shrieks of the NPCs. She knew John fought with equal ferocity—the finish line of victory was within reach, and every obstacle was the enemy.
"Capture them!"
The closer Eric drew to the giant tree, the more frenzied the NPCs became. Without warning, a brick hurtled out of nowhere, striking Eric unprepared. Instantly, her world spun wildly; consciousness emptied in a dizzying void. When awareness returned, she found herself pinned beneath several NPCs, their blades and clubs rained mercilessly upon her.
Suppressed, aching, powerless—Eric despised this helplessness!
With a furious shout, she swiftly activated a healing pack. The moment its balm took effect, her gaze locked on a diminutive female NPC who was slicing at Eric's fingers with scissors.
Witnessing the severed finger miraculously regenerate left the NPC stunned and enraged. Just as she opened her mouth to alert her comrades, a powerful force yanked her back. Before she could react, she was hurled aside, crashing into others nearby.
"Ah!"
Seizing the brief, fleeting interval of barely two seconds, Eric dexterously flipped upright and grasped a supermarket shelving unit.
Sweeping the iron rack in a wide arc, she cleared the NPCs around her. A tempest of wrath surged within—memories of helplessness and fury from her time as a test subject in the abandoned laboratory reignited her battle spirit; her resolve blazed, and her aura radiated deadly intent.
NPCs were struck down, either to their heads or chests with bone-jarring force, their cries echoing amidst the onslaught. Eric wielded the iron rack with relentless vigor, carving a pathway through the throng.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted John trapped, prompting her steps to falter before turning back.
John believed his end was nigh. Dragged down and unable to rise, his vision blurred by blood, his body wracked with searing pain. Despite applying one healing pack, fresh wounds layered atop old ones. Grasping the moment of restoration, he lunged through a gap amidst his assailants, only to be swiftly grabbed by a vigilant NPC. The two grappled savagely on the ground, John clutching the attacker's throat like a beast.
The battering of clubs and blades momentarily abated—the NPCs wary.
Yet soon this caution evaporated—they resolved to finish him and his allies mercilessly.
"Don't let him escape! Kill him!"
The attacks resumed like a relentless downpour. John witnessed, to his horror, the NPC entangled with him was struck down first. Though victorious, the merciless fall of his opponent offered no comfort; a frigid dread seized him.
These NPCs had lost their sanity—they were mad!
Still, John refused surrender. He yearned to live; he would not perish as that female player had on day one, reduced to a grotesque pile of crimson flesh in the streets.
Struck repeatedly, John fought back with savage desperation.
Left hand severed—he administered a healing pack.
Right hand lost—another healing pack.
Struck heavily upon the head—he employed yet another healing pack.
...
His points rapidly dwindled. When even death seemed elusive, the NPCs raged further. Soon, John scarcely had time to employ healing, never finding an opening to break free.
In his darkest despair, all assault ceased abruptly. His hearing faltered, leaving him dazed as he gazed upward.
Night had fallen. He could barely make out Eric's dim silhouette, yet in his heart, her presence towered two meters tall.
Eric used the iron rack to fell the NPCs surrounding John. Seeing him dazed, she called out, "Stop daydreaming! Use the healing packs—let's move swiftly!"
John snapped back to reality, hastily consuming healing packs—one, then another—ignoring his pain. Clambering up, he followed Eric. The image of her slender frame wielding the iron rack struck him as breathtakingly heroic.
With the rack clearing a path, and John dispatching the encroaching NPCs, they finally reached the base of the giant tree. Eric urged him upward first.
"No dawdling, get up there!" she glared.
"All right, all right! Be careful—I'll wait for you!" John strained as he climbed; Eric waved the rack fiercely, deterring the NPCs' approach.
John's ascent further provoked their fury; Eric's strength waned.
Watching John reach four or five meters, she swung the rack one last time, instantly stowing it inside the supermarket, and pivoted to scale the tree. Her climbing was swift and sure, as if treading level ground. In the blink of an eye, she soared three to four meters up, leaving the NPCs dumbfounded.
"Quick, pursue them! Bring them down!"
Incensed, the NPCs scrambled up the sprawling trunk, soon covering it like a frantic swarm.
Suddenly, John felt someone slip beside him—it was Eric!
"You climb extraordinarily fast!" John had worried moments before; to see her lead the way with such prowess was astounding. Looking down at the writhing mass of NPCs below chilled him to the core, his hands trembling. He braced himself with a determined headbutt against the tree and bit his lip, pressing upward.
The nocturnal giant tree differed little from its daylight form: its trunk was straight but coarse, adorned with numerous protruding lumps of varying size, offering ample footholds.
Like wings on a tiger, Eric ascended effortlessly. After climbing nearly a hundred meters, she glimpsed the tree's apex—a tangled thicket of innumerable robust vines hanging down, tapering as they descended. Touching the root of a vine, she felt it pulsate.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sensation was revolting; Eric withdrew her trembling hand, heart racing from the eerie vibration.
Swallowing hard to banish the sinister visions flooding her mind, she summoned courage and resumed climbing the vine's root. The base extended from the tree's summit, and climbing the vine felt like scaling a writhing mass of giant serpents—cold, slippery, and dreadful.
Amidst such terror, Eric finally reached the true summit of the trunk.
There, she encountered the schemer and Big Eyes, both ascending the tree, breathless and astonished to see Eric had caught up.
"How on earth did you make it up here?" the schemer demanded.
"I climbed just as you did," Eric replied, uninterested in dispute. Noticing the hollow within the trunk, she was certain her choice was sound—the exit lay within.
"We arrived first; we must descend first!" the schemer insisted, his gaze laced with suspicion. How preposterous—after arriving so much earlier, this woman had only trailed him by a single step. Clearly, she had become one of the monsters.
Eric bore no objection; a moment's delay mattered little.
The schemer turned to Big Eyes. "Let us jump together."
They leapt, but moments later, agonized screams erupted below. Eric's heart clenched; hastily she climbed back, retrieving a flashlight from the supermarket to illuminate the depths.
She witnessed the two players who had jumped being seized by galls—grotesque human faces snapping shut. They writhed in torment; the schemer used Big Eyes as a foothold to break free, but Big Eyes was entirely swallowed. The schemer continued descending yet was ensnared and devoured bite by bite by the gore-filled gall.
Throughout the ordeal, the vines dangling in still silence.
Witnessing this, Eric felt her blood run cold.
After a dozen seconds, the faces retracted, the galls reverted to innocuous knots. Hesitation crept into Eric's heart; should she leap or not?
She resolved to await John's arrival for counsel.
Nearly ten minutes later, John laboriously reached the summit.
"You're still alive!" he exclaimed, surprised. Casting his gaze downward, "The NPCs are climbing too, nearly here. Aren't you jumping?"
Eric recounted what she had seen; John shared her unease.
"You said you had impressions of this place—vines, galls, and all?"
"Yes, and I wasn't devoured," she affirmed, convinced this was the Light Circle's locus—both safe and feasible.
"Then why…?" John pondered.
The scent of blood wafting up from the trunk befuddled Eric's mind. She harbored no warmth for the schemer, yet witnessing his grisly demise stirred something within. An insight dawned.
"The difference between us and them is that they consumed the fruit, while we abstained! I didn't eat—did you?" she questioned John.
"I didn't," he confirmed.
Eric speculated, "Perhaps those who refuse the fruit are spared the galls' assault, the vines shielding us, whereas those who partook are targeted."
"They ate the fruit? Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. I saw them picking the fruit. I remained sleepless all night; weakened despite healing packs, unable to reach the giant tree to seek clues. Yet they appeared vigorous and even proposed trading healing packs for fruit gathering." Their bright demeanor stemmed from restful nights nourished by the fruit.
The final test remained.
Without hesitation, Eric plunged downward.
As before, the gall cracked open, revealing a snarling human visage, white teeth snapping to consume her. Yet the unmoving vines stirred instantly, lashing the gall until it wailed and the face snapped shut.
Eyes open, Eric descended meter by meter; the gall's brief obstruction could not stem her rapid fall. Whipping vines left ghostly trails in her vision as she curled, shielding head and chest, finally plunging into the awaited water.
Splashing, she stretched beneath the surface and glimpsed a white radiance below. Swimming downward, she touched the luminous circle, and her vision refracted instantly.
[Player Eric has successfully completed the normal instance: Eden; Points gained: 4]
Back among the stone pillars, joy swelled uncontrollably within Eric—she had once again conquered the instance!
Yet the cost was steep; three healing packs consumed for merely four points. Though exchanged through barter with other players, using three packs in a single mission pained her deeply. Only two healing packs remained from the trade...
She recalled Austin, who had endured fourteen years here—gathering points from ordinary instances was arduous indeed.
In the mission hall, she met John, who hurried over, relief evident. "I jumped too! Your analysis was spot on—the Light Circle is beneath us! Come on, dinner's on me!"
Over the meal, they mused upon the instance's name.
"A strange moniker, utterly devoid of clues," John complained.
"'Eden'… seems biblical," Eric mused between bites of white rice, "a paradise abundant in resources from which Adam and Eve were cast out after succumbing to temptation and tasting the forbidden fruit. Those fruits must represent apples; the single street and lone tree symbolizing Eden itself. Yet the outcome is inverted—we refused the fruit and were allowed to depart."
"It's a game instance; they just pick grand names."
"Perhaps. Maybe in the lore, consuming Eden's fruit binds one to the place, while abstainers may leave," Eric pondered. "On reflection, those voices luring us at night weren't malevolent. They asked if we were hungry, tired, sleepy, or wished to leave—they spoke to our deepest desires. Had we answered on the first night, we might have gained clues to the Light Circle then."
John sighed deeply. "That might not have been for the best. Do you remember the male and female players? I heard two screams upon entering. They were likely ensnared immediately. Without strong will, their chances of clearing the instance were slim. When they reappeared with us on the street, they were bewildered, reluctant to flee with us, and soon slain by NPCs."
Eric nodded; she recalled the scene.
"But within the instance, who dares trust the enticing voices? Surely players assumed ill intent and viewed the fruit as protection against such spells."
This was the merciless nature of the instance—two opposing fates defined by a single choice; the wrong one condemned to eternal ruin.
As Eric and John debriefed over dinner, the frenzied NPCs in the instance stalled collectively after John reached the Light Circle. Moments later, the climbers descended slowly and the surrounding NPCs turned away. Soon, not a soul lingered beneath the giant tree.
Through the long night, the giant tree's crimson fruits began to glow, pulsating rhythmically like beating hearts. Upon closer scrutiny, veins seemed discernible within. Nestled among them, the green fruits glowed not, yet their nascent veins strained to draw sustenance, preparing to ripen.
In a secluded corner, two green fruits sprouted upon a vine. Growth hurtling painfully, the fruits trembled continuously until dawn's first light when villagers arrived to harvest, finally abating their shudder.
"Today's fruits are truly crimson; their potency assuredly greater!"
"Harvest swiftly! Harvest swiftly!"
"Hey, you two newcomers? Why stand idle? Gather fruit at once—that's the proper business!"
New villagers, initially clueless beneath the giant tree, were jolted into action by kindly peers.
The fruits' sweet aroma enraptured them; harvests snowballed until, by nightfall, all fruit was consumed. In fragrant dreams, the terror of exile gradually faded.
Unbeknownst how many days passed, the newcomers fully acclimated—rising early, gathering with neighbors, retiring to rest at night—life simple and fulfilled.
Perhaps sensing their acceptance and harmony, the giant tree beamed with pride; the two green fruits born together daily deepened to vibrant red by nightfall, radiating scarlet luminescence.
The following day, villagers joyously harvested the two fruits, returning home with festive spirits.
Four new green fruits blossomed anew in the original spot, bidding farewell to the villagers as they departed, destined to mature through endlessly repeating nights.
In the inn, two daily-rented rooms reached lease's end and were duly vacated; soon new guests arrived to occupy them.